GEOSATpro HDVR3500 - New DVBS2 STB - Photos and Initial Testing

[SatelliteAV]

Team, after reviewing last update and documenting short comings and hearing from other enthusiasts here's a new update : Please be careful, any releases that are still in development may harm your hardware, but are covered under warranty.

New firmware 979: http://marketing.glorystar.tv/update/usb_update_20150811.bin

Steps to install:
1. Download it and save it flash drive.
2. Rename it to usb_update.bin
3. Turn off receiver on the rocker switch on the back and put the drive in front slot behind the lid
4. Hold Up Arrow Key (top of circle) and Menu button at the same time while turning the rocker switch on.
5. Continue holding Up Arrow and Menu for at least 5 seconds.
6. Release the buttons and observe the software download and burn.
7. Once receiver is fully back up, turn it off one more time and turn it back on (this is precautionary, not mandatory)

Please find following updates:

1. Motor Positions are now available on Diseqc controls. (Saving the motor position sometimes fails - update pending in next release)
2. Recording working properly. (HD channels are still being analyzed, some cause receiver to slow down for a short time)
3. On the last recording receiver no longer hangs
4. Slight update on 608 closed captioning (708 is pending in next)
5. Deleting Single Transponder no longer turns off receiver
6. FEC information is now displayed in channel bar, also DVBS and DVBS2. Also QPSK, 8PSK, 16PSK displays in the info bar.
7. Better performance for EPG (if EPG is broadcast by the channel, you can schedule recording or switching channel and remove it)
8. In blind scan channels are no longer duplicating like the dugars


Bugs still not fixed (some bugs are features)
1. the SD resolution still displays 576i instead of 480i
2. storing motor position malfunctioned sometimes
3. Motor moves to "calculated position" instead of waiting for Diseqc position to be entered
4. number of positions will be expanded (right now limited to number of satellites in the list)
5. music choice displays not available
6. wiegel channels not saved to db properly
7. some channels display "scrambled" due to encoder reporting scrambled, but channel maybe open
8. bugs me to no end the "Moving dish" message was extended forever, i want it to be no longer then a second no matter how long it takes it to move.
9. testing drive sharing, where we should be able to map the drive in windows or connect to afp in mac
10. VIVANT Remote app plays only some channels then stops. We want any Android or iOS device to play the channel smoothly, even though it's a bandwidth hog

Please report bugs here or send them to sales@satelliteav.com

 

[Gfox]

Is there a proper way recommended for removing a storage device from the USB ports for the 3500 HDVR? The instruction manual describes a method but I can't seem to find the path it is leading the user. I have been turning the unit off to remove and install a flash drive but I don't know if that is necessary and I don't want to do anything that is not good for the equipment.

So far so good for me and the 939 firmware, seems to be a good step in the right direction. Thanks!

 

[SatelliteAV]

Is there a proper way recommended for removing a storage device from the USB ports for the 3500 HDVR?

Before removing any drive, or before connecting any switches or splitters, please put the receiver to sleep by pushing power button on the remote or front of the receiver.

To plug in usb drive, no power down needed, in fact it's better to have the receive fully on before inserting removable drives.

 

[. Raine]

I just flashed the 979 firmware, installed fine. FEC, etc, does show in the channel bar/info screen, tried a short test recording and didn't have skipping and stuttering like before, going to try some more recordings.

SatAv, what would your estimate be of recording length that can be done with a unit that has the 16 GB internal drive [using the 16 GB internal drive, of course] ? Would the 16 GB drive be big enough to record a 2 to 2 1/2 hr movie? Thanks.

Never mind, I just recorded a 2 hr movie [Manhattan Project on the Movies! channel] and it took about 2 GB.

After the 2 hr recording the receiver was a little sluggish in responding, barely noticeable, after a minute or so it was back to normal.

 

[Gfox]

So far so good for me and the 939 firmware, seems to be a good step in the right direction. Thanks![/QUOTE]

I meant 979 firmware beta in my previous post.

 

[stargaze]

I am wondering if others are watching the recordings from beginning to end?
What I am seeing is that SD recordings are ok but HD tend to show a bit of stuttering.
Also if you have more then 1 recording and you watch the first one it immediately goes to the second one instead of stopping at the end of the first recording.
At the end of the last recording it stops properly then.
If that was not the design (and not sure why it would be) then this still needs to be looked into.

I know Satellite AV said he was looking at the HD recording so I presume the reason was the stuttering.

Thanks for the FEC info.
I have not tested the other items out yet that were said to be fixed. Just the recording part.
I was testing the recording out on the ABC channels on 99W when I noticed the stuttering & slowing down a bit.

 

[jibaro29]

I just upgraded my 3500HD with 979 firmware and it looks great with one exception still does not save the sat position on Satellite settings. It will however save it to the dish mover (V-Box). It looks like the new firmware already has assigned sat position numbers and no matter what I do I can't change them.

 

[. Raine]

Well, recording Star Trek on MeTv 101W right now and it's not doing very good, sound is cutting out every few seconds.

 

[Gfox]

Well, recording Star Trek on MeTv 101W right now and it's not doing very good, sound is cutting out every few seconds.

I moved over to MeTV on 101W C-band and experienced the same thing as A Raine. While viewing the movie for about 10 minutes while recording in the background the voice was cutting out and the video was a bit skippy as well. I stopped the recording and the audio and video were normal. I checked my signal and I had a strength of 40 and quality 90. Then I tried the cycle again with the same results as the first time, smooth before recording, choppy audio and video recording and smooth again when I stopped the recording.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Would the 16 GB drive be big enough to record a 2 to 2 1/2 hr movie?

16Gb drive should give you from 12 to 18hr recording time, depending on the activity. More activity, less capacity.

I noticed the stuttering & slowing down a bit.

The stuttering is documented and is being worked on, i am expecting progress in the next version around mid week.

while recording in the background the voice was cutting out and the video was a bit skippy as well

Not all recordings display same results. We are analyzing different streams and as stated previously, will address the stutter.

 

[SatelliteAV]

It will however save it to the dish mover (V-Box). It looks like the new firmware already has assigned sat position numbers and no matter what I do I can't change them.

The receiver will accept your pre-assigned V-Box positions, and as I stated in the firmware notes, sometimes will fail to store to v-box. So work around is to use your position (select go to position and your pre-assigned number) then do a scan on a known transponder. The receiver will use your V-box positions.

I am expecting the number of positions to be much higher then actual satellites. I am expecting any position to be able to assign to any satellite, instead of "automatic" picking of the satellite database position. I am expecting the writing to the v-box to be fully functional shortly. This was a first step to implement positions. If the positions will be implemented as this test firmware and will work as desired, I will be satisfied.

Should I be happy that the positions are being implemented? Yes. Are they working as the final result is ought to be? -no but we are going in the right direction. I just feel allowing you the end-users test as it's being developed should be valuable.

 

[KE4EST]

I have been busy last few days.
However, I did receive my replacement receiver next day as SatelliteAV promised. This one had a working internal flash drive and was 64GB.
However even with 939 firmware I am still getting the same others are reporting on MeTV on 101W.
If you try to record it stutters around, have to do a rear panel power button to reset.
Same on 103W Ku on the NBC feeds. Don't even have to record here, after a few minutes it starts going crazy.
I also noted the same on CoziTV on 103.
Same on 125W Ku on PBS HD. It seems to do ok that I can tell on SD channels.
Same also if you hit pause, which of course it has to start recording.
Also if I go to media and try to play shows I have on my external drive it plays real rough and eventually locks up.
I see that Eugene posted that this is being addressed in the next firmware.
Just wanted to let people know what happened. If you Eugene says he is shipping, he does ship fast as promised.

 

[rodder]

Moving Motor Continuously popping up while in settings menu

 

[Martyn]

Has anyone figuring out a working remote control for use with Slingbox?

My MicroHD remote almost works, but the channel down and OK buttons aren't compatible.

 

[skysurfer]

6. FEC information is now displayed in channel bar, also DVBS and DVBS2. Also QPSK, 8PSK, 16PSK displays in the info bar.

In the last few hours, I put in the new firmware and found there is an issue with this item. The info banner of these items when the channel first pops in is inaccurate almost 100% of the time. Let the info banner go away and then make it return with the info button and it's mostly corrected but still can be inaccurate (and this is not taking into account the SD resolution item which is mentioned as still being an issue to fix). Most of the inaccuracy is the DVB-S/DVB-S2 signal type as I have found several "DVB-S2" listed signals per the info bar are actually DVB-S. Another issue is that in rare cases, the DVB-S/S2, modulation and FEC info on the bar does not even display -- it remains blank in that area of the info bar but may display again if you wait for the info bar to go away and then reactivate it.

Is the page up/down buttons still something being worked out? I still can't find a way to page satellite or channel lists a page at a time so when you have lots of satellites, or 100 new channels in a blind scan, it is slow and go to arrow up/down one at a time rather than a page at a time. The double arrow up and double arrow down buttons that you would assume are page buttons do not function for me.

I'm still trying to figure out the channel list, too. With the July 28th firmware, they seemed to be listed in frequency order. With this August 11th firmware, they seem to be listed in the wacky way that they were blind scanned. It looks like the receiver locks the wide signals first, then goes to the middle range width signals then finishes with the low SR signals.

I compared July 28th with Aug 11th for Eutelsat 117 West A C-band blind scanning and the times were about the same for each polarity. The blind scans with aug 11th software did find two new digital signals that weren't found with the july 28th firmware. I"m still going over the HDVR3500 results with my own bimonthly spectrum analyzer fine-tooth-comb analysis that I last did about a week ago to see how many audio/video digital signals from my personal notes were blind scanned by the HDVR3500 to see if its fast blind scan is also accurate with regard to finding a large percentage of the known audio/video signals on that satellite.

 

[zrkam]

I've been having an issue with using the receiver with a motor, Stab HH90. When I tell the motor to move to a certain satellite, it would do so, but would then start making a sound like it's trying to do something, but can't. If I try to do a blind scan at that point, the motor would move to the reference point whether I'm in USALS or DiSEqC 1.2 mode. This would happen every single time with about 50 percent of the satellites and it's always the same satellites such as 91W, 93W, etc. This makes it impossible to do blind scans on those satellites. Any advice on this?

 

[jibaro29]

I've been having an issue with using the receiver with a motor, Stab HH90. When I tell the motor to move to a certain satellite, it would do so, but would then start making a sound like it's trying to do something, but can't. If I try to do a blind scan at that point, the motor would move to the reference point whether I'm in USALS or DiSEqC 1.2 mode. This would happen every single time with about 50 percent of the satellites and it's always the same satellites such as 91W, 93W, etc. This makes it impossible to do blind scans on those satellites. Any advice on this?

Same here. Hopefully this will be taking care of on the next upgrade.

 

[Martyn]

I still can't find a way to page satellite or channel lists a page at a time so when you have lots of satellites, or 100 new channels in a blind scan, it is slow and go to arrow up/down one at a time rather than a page at a time. The double arrow up and double arrow down buttons that you would assume are page buttons do not function for me.

Hmm. They work for me fine in the channel display - the one that comes up when you press the OK button. I think the only screen where they don't work is the satellite screen, brought up by the SAT button.

Perhaps try backing up settings, resetting to factory then applying the update again? I had a problem before (I forget what it was now) and doing that solved it.

 

[skysurfer]

Hmm. They work for me fine in the channel display - the one that comes up when you press the OK button. I think the only screen where they don't work is the satellite screen, brought up by the SAT button.

Did some playing with the HDVR3500 and locking satellite news feeds today and found some interesting things, including something about the page up/down buttons.

I found the page up/down buttons only work some of the time but there seems to be a reason for it. If you have 20 channels or less, the buttons should not work (in theory). You'll notice on the channel list there is a indicator at the right edge of the channel list window that tells you where you are among the channels. If that indicator is at the very top or very bottom of the page (meaning you are at the first 10 channels or last 10 channels you have saved for that satellite), the page up/down buttons won't work as you are at the top or bottom of your channel list. There are 10 channels per page of channels so if the indicator is at channel 9 or 10 on the first page and you want to tune channel 1, you can't use the page button to go to the last page and then up arrow a few times to save you a few keystrokes, you have to hit the arrow down button nearly 10 times to navigate channel by channel to the first channel of the first page. Other receivers I have will not hit a hard top or bottom of a channel or sat list when you page up or down, it'll take you past the top or bottom edge of your channel or sat list.

Found some weirdness in other areas:

"Delete All" when in a particular satellite's transponder listing doesn't keep you on that same satellite in at least two cases I discovered. I was working with SES2 C-band and did a "delete all" TP so I could clean out the factory list and put in my own through fresh blindscan and after I did the delete all, the satellite was no longer at SES2 C-band but rather at the satellite #1 in the list (Astra xxxx Ku-band at 177W). Since page up/down doesn't seem to work in the sat list, I had to down arrow multiple pages to return to SES2 C-band to start the blind scan. That weirdness also happened with Galaxy 16 Ku-band when I cleared all of its factory TP to do fresh blind scans. It also took me to "1 Astra xxx (177W)" and again I had to down arrow to Galaxy 16 Ku-band to reselect that satellite and do the blind scan.

Another close together, same SR issue in the vein of SES-1 C-band signals to report as an additional incident. I blind scanned and watched a newsfeed (Greta Van Susteren from Washington, DC studio newsfeed). When she was done, the signal dropped and almost instanteously another head shot feed popped right in. I thought it was odd that the news feed slot drop carrier/new carrier was that quick so I looked at the spectrum analyzer and found Greta's feed freq had nothing while there was a feed on the slot 5 MHz away. I did a blind scan and tuned that feed 5 MHz away and found it was the same head shot feed as what I had gotten on Greta's feed freq when Great's feed left. Service IDs and frequencies of both feeds are different but the SR was the same for each feed. Maybe when the "SES-1" problem of close carriers is resolved, this issue I found with the news feeds might go away too.

I'm also getting two other tuner weirdness issues. I blind scanned G16 Ku-band and one of FOX's news feeds was found and channel written to memory. I go to the channel list to select that channel to watch and get "No Signal". Spectrum analyzer shows the signal exists and it has a great looking signal strength. MicroHD tunes it fine, my PCI PC card tunes it fine. HDVR3500 continued to report "no signal". I don't think I could chalk it up to HDVR3500 tuner sensitivity issues because obviously the blind scan found it and wrote the channel to memory so there was enough signal to do that.

Some signals that have like a "signal 53 quality 56" display break up (while most with those types of readings play solidly) and some that have "signal 56 quality 7" play solidly while most with that type of reading usually have minor or major video breakups.

 

[Titanium]

I confirm that firmware version 979 has motor control issues. Powered up the HDVR3500 on 103W KU with USALS motor control mode active with correct longitude/latitude entered from the previous time I tested 979. The HH motor moved to the eastern mechanical limit and will not move to any other USALS or DiSEqC 1.2 position (including "0" reference. Connected up the micro HD and the motor drove to the correct USALS and DiSEqC 1.2 positions. Reconnected the HDVR3500, powered it on and the motor moved to the Eastern mechanical limit again. Connected the Amiko mini HD SE and it controlled the motor correctly. Parked the dish on 103W and connected the HDVR3500 again. Performed a master reset, activated USALS and selected 103W. The motor again moved to Eastern mechanical limit.

The only way to scan 103W is to move the motor into position with another STB and connect the HDVR3500 with no motor mode active. Even though the DiSEqC 1.2 manual motor motor position function is not activated on any satellite, it is affecting USALS motor operation operation as well.